Before European settlement, widely spaced oak trees dotted the landscape in Oakland Township, with savanna wildflowers and sun-loving grassland plants in the understory, and frequent fires lit by humans and natural causes maintained the open character of these oak savanna communities. In the 1800s, European settlers cleared the trees, tilled the land, and suppressed fires, causing rapid loss of native prairie and oak savanna communities in southeast Michigan. Much of this land was farmed until the 1960s and 1970s, and after agriculture ceased, non-native invasive shrubs such as autumn olive, multiflora rose, and glossy buckthorn quickly established, providing poor habitat for wildlife and pollinators. Restoration in this area uses forestry mowing to remove dense thickets of non-native invasive shrubs like buckthorn, autumn olive, and oriental bittersweet, then spreads native grass and wildflower seed, spot treats re-sprouting shrubs over at least three years, and uses prescribed fire, brush hogging, spot treatment, and seed additions as native plants re-establish.